15 bibles, 1,250 passers by. That’s 1.25% Bible-carrying Osteenites.
I wonder how many of those fifteen were the Joel Osteen Bible. A "red letter version" of a paraphrased translation is an oxymoron IMO:
Posted on 12/02/2014 5:47:15 PM PST by Gamecock
On Friday, July 13, 2012, Joel Osteen made an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio. Fourteen thousand people filed into Quicken Loans Arena that evening to take in “A Night of Hope.” I had no desire to attend, but I did want to head downtown and do something outside the gathering as an act of quiet personal protest.
For weeks prior to the event, I pondered what to do. So one night, to find some inspiration, I tuned in the weekly broadcast from Lakewood Church. When channel-surfing I will sometimes briefly watch Osteen, but on this occasion I committed myself to watching the entire show. Within minutes, I knew what I should to do: So I paused the channel, went to my home-office, and returned with a pen and pad of paper. I started writing down the key words and phrases I heard Osteen emphasize in his talk. By the end of the hour, I had over twenty items on the list.
Recalling an interview (was it on CNN?) in which Michael Horton called Osteen’s teaching “Cotton Candy Christianity,” I wrote that term as a heading above the list. I then thought about what alternative words or phrases might be listed alongside each item on the Osteen list. I found this all too easy—and in less than two minutes, I had my companion set of terms representing “Historical-Biblical Christianity.” I returned to my office and typed up the list. Once completed, all I needed was a heading for the flyer. Also easy: “The JOEL OSTEEN Scorecard.” (Download a PDF file of the final product.)[See Below]
On the morning of Friday the 13th, I printed 250 copies of the scorecard on pink paper (pink struck me as the appropriate color). In the afternoon, I read Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, and I prayed that should God give me occasion to talk to anyone, that I would speak the truth in love. And then early that evening, also equipped with seven copies of Christless Christianity that I had ordered for the event, I headed for “the Q” (or “the Loaner” as one Cleveland friend of mine likes to call it), most curious about what I would encounter.
After parking, I asked a police officer where I was permitted to stand and hand out pamphlets. He directed me across the street, off the private property of the arena. There I joined two Mitt Romney volunteers soliciting signatures (for what I did not know, as Romney had already won the Ohio G.O.P. primary and secured the Republican nomination).
People streamed by me. I quickly had to figure out what to say as my pitch. I tried, “Get your scorecard,” which generated little interest. When I changed it to “Get your Joel Osteen Scorecard,” well, that drew much more interest. And interestingly, when just one person in a passing cluster took a pink sheet, others were much more inclined to take one as well. The flyers went out in bunches. A few people asked what the sheet was for; I simply explained it was for note-taking and “checking off the terms you might hear tonight.” That seemed to satisfy most all takers.
I also had to consider to whom I would give away copies of Horton’s book. I decided to give to the first people I spotted carrying Bibles. I gave away two such copies, but decided to change my criteria after one woman took a copy, crossed the street, but after examining the book, crossed back and returned to me. “I’m not interested in this,” she politely said, giving back the book.
So I decided to give my remaining copies of the book to young adults who appeared of high school age. The highlight here: the final kid to get a copy really lit up in excitement. He looked me in the eyes, really looked me in the eyes, unlike anyone else that evening, and said, “Thank you; I appreciate this.” I said a quick prayer for him as he crossed the street clutching the book, and the kind of clutching one does with something truly valued.
I gave away all 250 scorecard sheets in just under one hour. That’s about one every fifteen seconds. The time flew by, and the experience was much more hurried than I had anticipated—a function I think of the proximity to the arena and the eagerness of most folks to get in. As busy as I was, within a few minutes I had decided to take note of two phenomena: (1) the number of people I saw toting Bibles (those prepared to say, “This is my Bible…”), and (2) the number of people who stopped to engage in a more in-depth conversation. (I was prepared to cease all pamphleteering for just one serious conversation.)
Let me here report the results:
Bibles: 15. That’s not fifteen carried by people who took a pink sheet. That’s fifteen among everyone who walked by. Bear in mind, I was practicing very intentional looking: I looked at every person who passed by my street corner. I noticed a lot in the short amount of time I had. Two carried iPads, for example, and maybe they had Bible software loaded; more likely not (“This is my iPad…”). And I estimated that for every person who took a scorecard, five others did not. By my calculations then, that’s 1,250 who walked by me. Considering my spot was one of about a dozen crosswalks available to get to the arena, the 1,250 estimate also jives with the reported figure of 14,000 who attended.
So do the math: 15 bibles, 1,250 passers by. That’s 1.25% Bible-carrying Osteenites.
Conversation: 2 parties stopped to spend a few minutes to talk. Just two.
The first was a father with his three sons. It turns out the dad was not dragging his boys to hear Osteen; they were on their way to another event. The man was most curious about what was on the sheet, what I was doing, and why. I showed him the scorecard. After studying it closely, he said, “I get it.” He then shared that he had only a slight familiarity with Osteen, that he was Roman Catholic, and that he was from Georgia. He also commented that “down in Atlanta, we have lots of mega-churches and televangelists, and most of them are bad news.” I shared that I was unashamedly Protestant, and was hoping to simply provoke some attending the Osteen event to pause and question what they were hearing. The gentleman’s parting words to me: “Good for you.”
The second interaction was with a married couple, David and Kim. Kim carried a Bible; David did not. After taking a copy of the scorecard and examining it, David got very excited. He shared that he had never watched Joel Osteen, had never read one of his books. “She dragged me here,” he explained, with a nod toward his wife. “Go on in,” I said, “But be sure to check off what words and phrases you hear tonight. And when you get home, I have a suggestion: read the book of Galatians, the whole book. And compare what you read from Paul with what you hear from Osteen. In fact, I’d encourage you to read Galatians every day for one week. It will only take twenty minutes each day.” David looked at me, smiled, pointed at me, and said, “I’ll do that; I will.” Then he crossed the street, with an extra hop in his step.
I did too after I ran out of scorecards.
When I returned home, a bit exhausted, I sat down and turned on the television. A few channels into surfing, I stumbled upon Family Feud. I watched three or four survey questions, and five or six attempts to guess the top responses for each. Each time, regardless of the quality of the guess, family members shouted “Good answer, good answer.” Even when the answer was an obviously bad answer, a decidedly miserable answer, the participants wishfully chanted, “Good answer, good answer.” And it hit me just how much like Family Feud is the spectacle of Joel Osteen and his misguided followers: “Good answer, good answer.”
Make no mistake: A good answer is not the Good News.
If you have a friend who watches Joel Osteen, consider giving her or him a copy of the scorecard (on pink paper, please) and most importantly, follow-up with a conversation.
TY, my education continues. LOL!
The Real Osteen Ping!
M4L
Osteen Ping!
(Dalberg-Acton, this post is not directed toward you personally; it’s directed to the thread.)
I’ve never understood the level of “religious animosity” that I’ve seen on FR. It seems to me to be out-of-line with our Founders ideals.
I didn’t notice it much during the many years that I lurked here, because I was interested in politics and American political history; and I learned so much from so many wise and educated people here.
But since actually joining and posting, I’ve noticed the religious animosity “big-time”.
Earthly religions are man-made things; but they are one of the ways through which God finds a way to speak to us - to each in his own way, to each according to the level of his understanding. God speaks in many ways, to inspire, alert, and convert. And it’s an intensely personal thing: nobody can create a “Religion” that is right for everybody.
I would never criticize another person’s religion or belief, as long as it is one that reveres LOVE for our fellow man, above all; because I believe that in doing so, I would be attempting to come between that person, and God.
No two people come to God in the same way. Everyone takes his or her own path. Nobody knows what some word, sentence, ideal, might put another on the path to spiritual realization.
Can we quit with ridiculing various religious paths and inways?
So many people seem to think that only THEY know the real path; and that scares me. (The Catholics criticize the Protestants, and vice-versa; people ridicule the Mormons; etc. Only God knows where it stops! and ONLY God cares about actually bringing people to Him.)
A lot of you who criticize other Christ-Believing people, seem to be just trying to validate your OWN belief - and if you have such a need to validate it, maybe you are not so sure of it yourselves.
Just leave people alone, and follow your path, as you see it. Your duty is toward your OWN development, and your own honor of God, as you see it; not toward that of others.
I originally thought that FR was a place to discuss political/social issues. Not a place to attack others for their religious inclinations and beliefs.
I’m starting to re-think that.
-JT
And yet there is a religion forum debate religion!
Oh, and welcome to FR!
Sorry; I can’t parse your comment.
But, Thanks for the Welcome!
-JT
We do too, and are relieved to hear that you’re not.
I think the question has to be asked: a good job at what?
There are several things that Obama has been doing a good job at, one of which is accumulating the power of the state at an astonishing rate — this alone has produced a bit of an awakening at the liberties that are being lost and illuminating the problem: the government.
So, even though I certainly dislike the direction things are going it's not entirely bad — a consequence of people moving back in with their parents is that the accidental
wrong-address no-knock SWAT raid down the street gains an entirely new dimension of reality when people think this could happen to my [extended] family
… do you really think that many people would consider the sheer danger of no-knock raids [both literally andabstractly if there was a good economy and there wasn't a sense of I'm the authority, the rules don't apply to me
from every level of government?
So, there's some bright spots despite all the bad things.
BTW, some religion threads are labeled as 'caucus' threads. This means they are closed to people who are not a member of the caucus thread. People who crash those threads are breaking the rules and are usually asked to leave by a moderator.
If you do not wish to see Religion Forum posts, do NOT use the "everything" option on the Free Republic browse option list. Instead, browse by "News/Activism." When you log back in, the browse will reset to "everything" - so be sure to set it back to "News/Activism."
Um...I don’t think I mentioned the “Coexist” meme. And, who cares if some people find Osteen inspiring?
I don’t know what a “caucus” thread is. That’s something I’ve ever encountered during years of lurking, since 1998.
I found this thread under the general “Forum” heading.
If I’ve made a mistake, please inform me as to exactly WHERE I am permitted to respond in a religious sense, to a thread or post that involves Religion.
(And, as to your sense of what is ‘Biblical’ or not: I don’t think that anybody really knows, for sure!)
I’m about Spirit, and letting it in.
YMMV.
My best to you,
-JT
My husband does not, he shares mine.
Out of the rest of the family, Mom carries a purse Bible as well. Dad carries an IPad with Bibles in various languages and translations ditto brother, the rest follow along on their smart phones.
So you would not see any of us carrying Bibles as we walked in yet we would all have access to one during the service.
Conclusions, jump not to them.
15 bibles, 1,250 passers by. That’s 1.25% Bible-carrying Osteenites.
I wonder how many of those fifteen were the Joel Osteen Bible. A "red letter version" of a paraphrased translation is an oxymoron IMO:
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
I watched the end of a Joel Osteen program the other day...At the end of the program Osteen gave out the typical Protestant plan of salvation and encouraged the tv watchers to find a good bible believing church in their area...
My question is; would these people at Osteen’s church attend another church if he quit???
In my experience, all the different personalities out there respond to different kinds of preaching...I’m sure God doesn’t take all preachers and turn them into robots or drones...Some people will respond to a tack-hammer type of preaching and others will respond to a jack-hammer style...
Perhaps Osteen’s church has a large turnover and people move on to churches where they get a little meat as opposed to all milk...
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